October 25, 2011

How To... Cork Wreath

I like love my wine. I have for many years and I don't see this letting up. I have been saving my corks since the hubs and I got married almost 7 years ago so you can image I have a butt load of corks! A while ago I did this cork mirror for a friend, but I have been wanting to do a wreath for awhile. What says welcome to my house I drink wine more than used corks on your front door?

As typical I wanted to use what I already had. I had the corks {I say they are free, but the hubs would disagree considering we like expensive wine} and I had a couple of twig wreaths.

I was going to use my gold old favorite E-6000 to glue the cork down. This was very unsuccessful! The corks did not want to stick to the twigs... so I moved on to plan B.

I bought a foam wreath thinking that the smooth surface would make it easier but I was wrong! They kept on sliding off and the E-6000 was a mess!! Next idea...

Toothpicks! I was thinking I would like to idea of the end of the cork sticking out.. but I wasn't sure how I would do that. Seriously it was like a lightbulb! Third time is a charm!

I found it was easy to insert the toothpicks into the most of the cork. As I started placing them in the form it was easy to determine where the corks needed to be flush and when they needed to stick out a little. If the toothpick was too long it was easy to break it off.

After I knew THIS idea was going to work I started to fill in the inside and the outside to give me a circler pattern to follow. I plugged in all of the corks as flush as possible to keep the back smooth.

Then it was just the process of filling in the space. I tried to keep them from going in all the same direction so I would start out a little ways with a few corks in the different directions and then fell in as needed. I also loved the look of some wine stained ends sticking out and some not.

I only used about half of the one of the grocery bags I had on hand. I am so in love with the way it turned out!

To make it fit more for the fall season I added two fall stems to it with a little twine. I think this can stay up for all seasons.. I will just change out the small accent.

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comments:

What a great idea! Perfect for Fall but also for welcoming guests to a wine tasting party. :) I spy a Kenwood cork there...one of my all time faves. Have you tried Oregon Pinot? It's amazing...Congratulations by the way - I have awarded you the Versatile Blogger award - stop by to check out the details today if you have time. :)

I really love the earthy feel of the cork wreath. You might consider using real pumpkins to reinforce that natural look, especially since they only need to last a little while before you change it to another seasonal look. I need to drink more wine!

I love that you showed not only your awesome success, but also the first two attempts that failed. I like seeing the process of how you arrived at the finished project. It looks awesome. I need to save our wine corks.

quick question...I started making one and noticed that sometimes the corks slide out? did you use anytime of glue with the toothpicks? or do some finishing spray ontop of all of them to keep them in place?

I know I'm a little late to the party but holy hell this is a great post. Its a funny, its sort of elegant, it says you know how to party but your fancy. What else would you want to say? Thanks so much for sharing! I have been throwing away my wine corks like a fool! Not anymore.

I just finished mine. Turned out beautifully. Some tips:Use the round-thick toothpicks, not the flat-thin ones.I didn't see any benefit to using a "circular" pattern because a random pattern - as long as you're aiming to make it as random/even as possible - is unavoidable considering the shape of the corks.I haven't put the "accessories" (ribbon, flowers, etc.) on yet so I'll write back when I've done that if I have anything to share/help.